Fulfilling promise, city councilman resigns

Before Tony Powell became a Lawrenceville city councilman, he made a pledge to serve no more than eight years.

At Powell’s first and only council meeting of 2019, he fulfilled that promise, offi- cially resigning from his post. Powell announced his inten- tion to resign at the Dec. 3 city council meeting.

When Powell first ran for council in 2010, he campaigned partially on believ- ing in a term limit of eight years, split between two four- year terms. At the time of his election, Lawrenceville councilmembers served twoyear terms, but they were changed to four-year terms during Powell’s second term. That legislation extended his term to three years while those changes were being implemented. Powell was last elected in 2015 to a four-year term, which would have con- cluded at the end of 2019. If he completed that term, he would have served nine years, one too many for his pledge.

“My promise to this com- munity was to serve a full 8 years, and as of January 2019, I have honored that commit- ment and served the Citizens of Lawrenceville to the best of my ability,” Powell said in a city news release.

“I am grateful for the opportunity I was afforded to help move Lawrenceville forward. It has been a priv- ilege to serve with some of the finest leaders in all of Gwinnett and Metro Atlanta and I would like to thank my fellow council members, the businesses and the residents of Lawrenceville for their faith in me these past several years.”

The council will discuss the next steps in filling Powell’s post at the Jan. 16 work session. Powell had recommended appointing Lawrenceville resident Victoria Jones to succeed him. Jones, a retired county employee who currently serves on the Lawrenceville down- town development author- ity, would be the council’s first black member.

Tony Powell